Selling your home, step by step

1. Get your finances in order

Before getting started with selling your home, it’s imperative to work out your finances and decide whether selling is the right move.
This is especially important if you’re upsizing (looking for a more expensive property), as you will need to find out how much you can lend. This could involve getting an AiP (agreement in principle) from a mortgage lender.
You also need to work out if you’re still within your current mortgage term. If you are, check with your lender if there will be any early repayment charges, or if you’re able to port your mortgage (porting is when you carry your current mortgage over to a new property). Porting may also include fees, so it’s worth checking that too. 

Make sure to work out the overall cost of selling your house as well, taking into account any fees such as conveyancing fees, EPC, estate agent fees, removal costs etc.

2. Get your home in order

You want to get your home in the best stead for the property market to secure an offer price that matches or exceeds your asking price. That doesn’t have to mean huge renovations (unless you’ve budgeted for that, of course), there are plenty of budget-friendly changes that can make a difference to your property value.
Some of the things you might want to consider:

• Tidy up your outside entrance

That could be de-weeding, getting the garden in good trim and giving the front door a fresh lick of paint. 

• Declutter

You want to make your property seem as spacious as possible, and a simple spring clean could do just that. 

• Give your home a good clean

That includes any of the spots you might’ve missed on your routine clean. Skirting boards, windows and the top corners of a room are the usual suspects. 

• Get on top of maintenance 

Ensure each room is in excellent condition before viewings, from cracked bathroom tiles to working smoking detectors.

You never know where buyers will ask to look when viewing your property, so make sure everything is buyer-friendly. 

3. Get your home valued and set an asking price

Now that your home is market-ready, it’s time to have it valued.

Once you have an idea of your property’s value, you can set an asking price. You can also look at the prices of nearby properties that have recently sold to help inform your asking price. 

4. Get an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Before your home can be put on the market, you need to have an up-to-date EPC. This assesses your property’s energy efficiency and will give you a rating from A to G, with A being the most efficient and G the least. They are required in order to sell your home. 

Through the government’s website, you can find your latest EPC or get a new one.

5. Choose an estate agent

You can now choose an estate agent to list and market your property. When selling your home with an estate agent, you will often benefit from professional photography and videography of your property. This is typically included in the agency fees, but double check beforehand.
As well as promoting your property offline, on their website and social media, your estate agent should also have access to the property listing giants such as Rightmove and OnTheMarket. 

Estate agents can also manage viewings and negotiate offers with prospective buyers. 

6. Hire a solicitor or conveyancer

You’ll need to hire a solicitor or conveyancer to manage the legal side of the sale. Technically you don’t need to hire a solicitor or conveyancer, but it’s highly advised you do. Their role is to communicate and negotiate with the buyer’s solicitor/conveyancer on potential survey issues, contracts or similar. 

7. Hold viewings and start taking in offers

Now that you’ve got your EPC and your property is listed, you can start taking viewings. Your estate agency may take the viewings on your behalf – it’s worth checking this before choosing an agency. If they do, make sure to request detailed feedback from each viewing.
If the viewings lead to offers, you can start to weigh up which seem the most attractive. If you aren’t receiving offers, take the feedback you’ve been getting onboard and see what changes you can make to help drive more offers. 

8. Start looking at other properties

This only applies to sellers who are remaining on the property chain.
If you haven’t already, you might want to start looking at potential properties to move into to keep the process as seamless as possible. If you are looking to buy, our guide to buying a house has everything you need. 

9. Accept an offer, or negotiate
If you’re not happy with an offer but are interested in the buyer, now is the time to negotiate. Your estate agent typically does the negotiating, so you can just instruct them to do so. 

Once you’ve accepted the offer, you can formally accept it. This is not legally binding – neither you nor the buyer are legally bound to the sale until contracts have been exchanged. 

If you decide to accept a different, higher offer after already verbally agreeing to one, this is called gazumping. It is also gazumping if you agree to the buyer’s asking price, before requesting more money at a later stage. 

10. Exchange contracts 

You officially exchange the contracts between your respective solicitors. This is now a legally-bound sale and pulling out at this stage can result in legal action.  

11. Start planning moving out, and move

It’s time to start planning for your move. This can include making a start on packing up your property, organising removal companies (if needed) and taking care of moving day logistics such as childcare or petcare.
Take into account that your buyer’s move-in date and your new move-in date may not align. If you need to move out before you have the keys to your new property, arrange plans for this interim. 

12. Complete the sale

You will agree on a completion date between your solicitor and the buyer’s solicitor. On completion day, your solicitor will receive the buyer’s funds. Once the property payment has been accepted, your solicitor will release the property keys from the estate agent so that the buyer can move in. 

13. Finalise costs

Now that you’ve received the payment for your property, you can pay off your existing mortgage (if you have one). This will also be when you settle up all other costs including solicitor or conveyancer fees, estate agents fees and stamp duty.